Zhukov's Final Push | Cigar City Brewing

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Reviews by Maltzilla:

Off the nitro tap @ Red Light Red light, during RBWG. BOOM! Is this a flavor bomb or an aroma bomb? Can't decide. This thing is, hands-down, one of the best stouts I've ever had. When I poured it into my (large) snifter, the head came up thick, creamy and dense; very dark brown in color, too.
I took a whiff and got some of the richest, most enticing coffee notes I've ever smelled (on coffee or beer). The weasels did a bang-up job on this batch. The appearance was definitely trade-mark zhukov: viscous, heavy, dense and darker than a black steer's tuckus on a moonless prairie night.
The taste is phenomenal: bitter chocolate, COFFEE, some very subtle licorice, light vanilla. You immediately notice the staple dark amber coating on your glass after you take the first sip. Amazing beer! The back palate lingers with some notes of coffee and dark fruit.
Thanks to Joey, cheeseman, GoT and everyone involved in making this happen.

More User Reviews:

5/5 rDev +8.9%look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Given what I went through to get this beer, I have to rate it a 5. So here's the honest to God true story...

After purchasing my ticket to Hunahpu Day 2016, I e-mailed CCB's marketing director, Geiger Powell, to make sure that CCB would be serving Final Push again this year (the last time it had ever been made and served previously was Hunahpu Day 2015...it was never bottled or distributed otherwise). I explained to Geiger that I really needed to try Final Push, as it was the last brew I needed to complete the BA Top 250 (which I had been working toward for 2.5 years). Imagine the horror when Geiger told me that CCB would NEVER brew this beer again, because they could not find a humane source of civet coffee beans! SH*T!!! So I asked Geiger if CCB would either give me the recipe, so I could make it, or would they make it if I could find a humane source of civet coffee beans. Well, Geiger said, we're not gonna give you the recipe, but if you can find a guaranteed humane source of civet coffee beans, then we'll make one keg of Final Push for Hunahpu Day 2016.

I then spent the next 3 weeks scouring the globe for a humane source of civet coffee beans, and ultimately found a communal preserve in SE Asia which provided a sanctuary for the civet cat, with guaranteed humane collection of the expectorated coffee beans! $300 and 2 weeks later, I had 16 ounces of humanely-gathered civet coffee beans shipped from SE Asia to CCB, and the rest is history!

So that is how & why Zhukov's Final Push came to be served at Hunahpu Day 2016!!!

First of all, HUGE thank you to @JohnParadee for making it happen and sharing his crowler. If you didn't know the story of how this re-make came about, check out his review/story below.

Secondly, this was THE best straight up black, i.e no maple/milk or other adjuncts, coffee beer I've ever had. If you've ever been to your best local gourmet coffee shop, Ultimo Coffee down in South Philly in my case, and had their best hand pour drip coffee and said "wow, I didn't know coffee could taste this good", this was that times 10! Wish I could describe the coffee smell and flavors and why it's so different and amazing. I'd total drop $300 on a pound of this coffee to try it by itself. MZ is a good stout to begin with, but the coffee drowned it nearly completely out. It was hard to tell if there was beer in it....that's how much coffee that was present.

Keep in mind that I had a full pour of this out of a large Spieglau snifter (full size Huna glass) and enjoyed it over a span of 15 minutes+. Nose, taste, feel, look...all amazing. A perfect beer if you truly know and love coffee.

Full bodied with low carbonation. Smooth, oily, and viscous in the mouth and goes down subtle. Finishes messy with a lingering aftertaste.

Upfront, I have to say that I’m not a huge fan of the Zhukov base beer. Here, the addition of coffee, even Kopi Luwak coffee doesn’t do much to change my opinion. A decent coffee based imperial stout but not too exciting otherwise.

Enjoyed this beer at Cigar City's Hunahpu's Day 2016 in Tampa, FL. This was one of the standout beers at at the event as it was packet with flavors, very tasty and something I would love to see again in the future.

Pours black in color, and thick, with a well-formed tan head that is typical of Cigar City beers. They really do tend to nail the appearance.

The aroma has big notes of delicious weasel crap coffee. Yes I can tell the difference. Besides that, a big base stout with dark chocolate and coffee shines through.

The flavor is not quite as amazing as the aroma, but is still excellent. Just a little heavy on the char, but the coffee flavor is great and well-integrated. Big, rich, dark malts form the base, lending roasty and toasty and chocolatey notes. Some anise in there as well.

Very full and thick on the mouthfeel. Carbonation is rather low, as it should be, but not nonexistent.

Awesome beer overall, and if there was a score for the name of the beer, this would get perfect marks considering I laughed out loud when I got the double entendre. Keep up the good work, Joey, Wayne, and co, and send some beer out to the wasteland of northern CA!

Wow - just as everyone else gave this one mad props, so will I as it deserves. Thanks for opening the growler G311. It pours very similar to the Hunahpu’s with a dark thick black oil-like appearance and the perfect caramel and dark cinnamon color super-lacey head. I could barely get the lacing off the glass when I was rinsing it. The aroma has huge delicious smooth coffee notes and light chocolate notes. The flavors of that coffee comes through amazingly - as another review stated - better than the best coffee beer AND best coffee beer I’ve ever tasted! There are some chocolate and roasty notes too, but nothing tastes as good and shines through on this impy stout like the coffee. Then the body, like Hunah, is creamy, thick but smooth, and perfectly carbonated. That creaminess with the coffee notes are soooo good.

Mmmmm... enjoyed at RBWG 2010 on nitro at Redlight Redlight. The flavor and aroma on this is HUGE coffee... intense coffee on this with some chocolate. The quality of this coffee dances amazingly well with the quality of this beer. Awesome stuff, folks!